Simulation technology today makes it easily possible to carry out three-dimensional simulations of the teeming and solidification of ingots as well as of the flow and solidification in continuous casting processes. Quick and reliable virtual casting trials in the computer can be performed considering all relevant process parameters.

Over many years, the liquid metal flow in steel continuous casting tundishes and moulds, the cooling and solidification of the melt and the formation of segregation, as well as stresses and cracks have been the subject of numerous projects in which the phenomena were analyzed by various measurement techniques, calculations and/or analytical or numerical simulations. The motivation for these efforts was the desire to understand the details of the phenomena influencing the casting process performance and the strand quality, in order to be able to optimize the casting process conditions. Today, the combination of newest developments in coupled 3D numerical heat and mass transport simulation coupled with computational optimization methods based on genetic algorithms allows new approaches.

In this paper the application to continuous steel casting processes is demonstrated: First, a reverse engineering method is applied to gain knowledge about boundary conditions for simulation of the mould. Afterwards an example for optimization of the casting process is shown: The required spread of spray cooling intensity in the various cooling zones to achieve a desired liquid pool depth and keep it stable is predicted.

In this paper, two aspects of continuous casting modelling will be discussed: First, the prediction of the liquid pool depth and second, possible causes of crack formation during the entire process. In both cases primary process parameters and required boundary conditions for a comprehensive simulation of the entire process route are discussed.